Integration and Test Engineer

Position: Integration and Test Engineer
Location: Annapolis, MD
Term: 6 months contract to hire

JOB DESCRIPTION:
Senior Integration and System Test Engineer to support their data link communication service provided to commercial aviation, also known as ACARS in the industry. Subsystem upgrades are delivered to the Operation Center which is staffed 24/7 for managing and monitoring the system which provides the service. On-call support is provided to the Operations Team by the Engineering organization.

Our company develops, integrates, and tests software solutions for real-time, high availability, 24x7 data link messaging services for supporting commercial carriers business operations. COTS hardware is also selected per required specifications but not necessarily the unit under test. Rather, in-house developed software and COTS software applications, database applications, storage server applications, and custom internetworking running on the devices is the primary focus for seamlessly integrating into the system and performing system testing.

System testing includes functional testing enhancements handed off to the I&ST Team according to system requirements, functional testing of operational defects corrected in a new software/configuration baseline, end-to-end testing, security testing, failure scenario testing to redundant subsystems, and soak & stress testing. Deployment rehearsals in the test environment are also performed to validate deployment procedures as well as operational instructions documentation of the Operations Team. Most of the system testing is done manually with the use of test tools that drive the messaging, logging, and storage throughout the system. We are an integral part of the engineering project teams diving deep to develop test procedures for technical requirements, and system/software design & implementation, and our own operational scenarios not identified by System Engineering or Software/Network Development teams. After system testing is complete the product(s) are handed off to the Operations Implementation Team for deployment into the Production System. We do not have a QA Team, however, our team ensures quality to met very high SLAs we have with our 180+ airline customers.

The test environment located in a single laboratory consists of a large, complex aviation end-to-end data communications system which consists of dozens of Linux-based servers, VHF radios, several internetworking devices, interfaces to a WAN transport network, and an IBM MQ customer network. Also included is a variety of test tools for data traffic generation and performance monitoring.

This is not a web-based application system but rather one that has its roots dating back to the late 1970s when data link service was first developed for the aviation industry. A lot has changed with regard to added functional subsystems, expanded connectivity, evolving technologies, and the demand for more and more data used for airlines operations since those early days. A talented engineer with several years of experience in the Systems Engineering or Integration & System Test disciplines on medium to large system would be a good fit.

We are an CMMI Level 3 engineering organization which are a rigorous set of defined processes followed throughout the SDLC lifecycle.

Responsibilities, Experience, Skills to perform the following:
1) Working in a team environment with system engineers, software developers, network engineers, and other test engineers, fully engaged from the start to end of a project. This includes participating in system requirements reviews, software design reviews, gathering technical information for understanding all deliverables, integration and system test procedures reviews, technical support while integrating and testing in the laboratory, and test report reviews. Strong verbal and written communication skills are a must when interacting with the technical teams throughout the project lifecycle.

2) Pre-Integration & test duties include setting up a test environment and writing a comprehensive Integration and System Test Plan from scratch. Strong verbal and written communication skills are a must to achieve success during this phase of the project lifecycle.
3) Integration & test duties include conducting integration and system testing with other test engineers in the test environment described above. This is in order to verify technical requirements, identify operation defects, communicate with the technical team to resolve issues, and validate deployment procedures. A final report is also reviewed with the technical team and other external stakeholders, as necessary. Strong verbal and written communication skills are a must to achieve success during this phase of the project lifecycle.

4) Mentoring junior I&ST engineers after gaining system knowledge and experience to ramp them up quickly. This is an opportunity to demonstrate and enhance leadership skills which contributes to strengthening the team.

HYBRID REQUIREMENTS:
Candidates should be within 30 miles or so from Annapolis so they are able to come into the facility when required to be onsite to perform job duties. Candidates are required to come into the office every day for at least a 2-3 months to onboard and receive training from their mentor and others on the team.